


Long Distance Birthdays

by Itmakesyoulooklikealoser



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adele holds onto the hope that Noah isn't dead, After Noah's body is found she visits his grave on his birthday, She buys him a gift every year he is missing to give to him once he returns, She runs into some unlikely people visiting his grave, character death and murder mentioned but not detailed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:53:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11544024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itmakesyoulooklikealoser/pseuds/Itmakesyoulooklikealoser
Summary: For the past 7 years Adele Czerny had bought a birthday present for her brother. This wasn’t particularly weird behavior, except that her brother had been missing, and presumed dead by everybody but her, for the past 7 years. Adele refused to believe that her brother was dead, after all, a body had never been found. Equally as difficult to believe was that he had run away and hadn’t made contact for 7 years.  Adele had chosen to believe the latter because at least it meant that he was still alive.





	Long Distance Birthdays

For the past 7 years Adele Czerny had bought a birthday present for her brother. This wasn’t particularly weird behavior, except that her brother had been missing, and presumed dead by everybody but her, for the past 7 years. Adele refused to believe that her brother was dead, after all, a body had never been found. Equally as difficult to believe was that he had run away and hadn’t made contact for 7 years. Adele had chosen to believe the latter because at least it meant that he was still alive. 

Then one day her parents received a call from the Henrietta police. A body had been found in the woods with Noah’s wallet and ID. 

No. No. No. No. This wasn’t happening. This was some kind of joke, a prank by one of Noah’s friends, maybe even Noah himself. Noah was back in town and this was his sick way of telling them that he was back. Noah was definitely not dead.

Except Noah really was dead, and had been dead the full 7 years he was missing. Adele was devastated. She had held onto hope for 7 years and the entire time, Noah had been dead. His body had been decaying just down the road while everyone just went on with their lives. How was is possible that it took so long to finally find his body? She had heard the police mention that Noah had been murdered. Murdered? There was virtually no crime in Henrietta. Murder hadn’t even crossed her mind when her thoughts had slipped to what could have happened to Noah for all those years. Who would have murdered Noah? Everyone loved Noah. He was so happy all the time, so full of energy. Noah loved life, his family, his friends. But someone had murdered her brother, had taken her best friend from her. 

——————

The funeral was held in early June on a too sunny day. Adele felt like it shouldn’t have been sunny on the day they were burying Noah, it should have been rainy and dark. The sun shouldn’t be shining when her world was falling apart.

Adele stood with her parents and sisters around the gravesite. Her parents weren’t showing much emotion and Adele was becoming more and more upset with each dry-eyed minute. It was bullshit that her parents expected them to keep up their “public image”, like this was some kind of political event instead of a funeral where they were burying their only son or brother. Adele had called them out on this before they left for the funeral. There had been a lot of shouting and tears, mostly from Adele. She had almost not come, but she wasn’t going to take her anger out on Noah. She would regret it for the rest of her life if she missed his funeral. 

As soon as the service ended Adele got up and went straight to the car to wait. She could not handle all these people coming up and telling her how sorry they were for her loss and all the other shit people say at funerals. More than half the people here didn't even really know Noah. Most of them were only here to be seen or to make an impression on her parents.

She would pay her respects later, without an audience of superficial people watching her every move.

—————————————————————————————————————————

On the morning of March 20th the next year, Adele work up earlier than normal. March 20th was Adele’s favorite day of the year for a number of reasons. The first reason was that it was the first day of spring, her favorite season. The second being it was Noah’s birthday. 

Birthdays had always been a big deal between her and her siblings, but especially with Noah. 

Noah and Adele had always gotten along extremely well. They often got mistaken for twins. They were close enough in age and where one was the other was never far behind. People often referred to them as the blonde tornadoes, sweeping around in a flurry and often leaving behind a mess. And then Noah got sent away to Aglionby and Adele to a private girls school. Adele knew her parents thought they were doing what was best for them. They wanted their kids to have the best education their newfound money could buy. But that didn’t stop her from being angry about it. Her and Noah had stayed as close as they could through the distance. They called and texted each other every chance they got. Once Noah was old enough to drive he would come and see her on weekends and breaks. They would buy the most outrageous birthday and holiday gifts they could find for each other. It a perfect. Noah was the best brother and friend Adele could have ever asked for.

This March 20th was a perfect day. The sun was shining brilliantly, birds could be heard singing in the distance, and it was just warm enough to not have to wear a jacket. Adele got into her car, carefully dropping the 8 perfectly wrapped presents into the passenger's seat and drove to Noah’s grave. She had been planning this day since last June.

——————

When Adele arrived at the cemetery she packed up all the presents and headed towards Noah’s plot. The walk to his gravesite was very peaceful. She admired all the beautiful flowers and gifts left at other sites on the way to Noah's. She has started humming Noah’s favorite Blink-182 song under her breath. This was going to be the perfect day. 

As she got closer to Noah’s plot she noticed that someone was already kneeled at the foot of the grave. At first she thought it might be one of her family members visiting Noah on his birthday. But then she realized that the person there were actually 2 people and they were definitely not anyone she knew. Adele started to approach quicker, thinking that they were vandals. One of them definitely looked like a vandal. He had a buzz cut and sharp features. He was wearing black jeans and a leather jacket with a tattoo peeking out from under his collar. The other was an elegant looking boy with brown shaggy hair and kind features. As she approached she heard the two men talking to Noah. She immediately stopped in her tracks. Who were these men? They were much too young to actually have known Noah. She decided to backtrack to a small bench that was a few feet away from the grave where she could sit and watch the two men without being obvious about it.

The two young men were kneeling in front of Noah’s grave. They had brought some brightly colored daisies that had been dyed into the colors of the rainbow. Adele smiled at that. Noah would have loved those flowers. They seemed to be in deep conversation, half between themselves and half to Noah’s grave. She could only hear snatches of their conversation, but they seemed to know an awful lot about her brother.

One of the men started to pull something out of his leather jacket pocket. Adele had to lean around to see what he had. It looked to be a small snow-globe. He shook the globe and glitter exploded through the liquid. He could hear the other man chuckling. Adele sat there amazed. How could these two boys have brought such personal Noah things to his grave, and on his birthday? The two boys laid their gifts on the grave and walked away hand in hand down the path.

Adele sat for a few minutes staring after the two men curiously. These boys had obviously known Noah on a personal level somehow. When she turned back to go visit the grave she was half off the bench when he saw a small girl with mismatched clips in her hair approaching his grave. She quickly sat back on the bench before the girl could notice her. 

She watched as the girl took a piece of paper and a tube of bright blue lipstick out of her pocket. The girl applied the lipstick and kissed the paper, leaving a perfect imprint of her blue lips. She laid it alongside the flowers that the two previously had left. She sat at the foot of the grave cross legged. She heard the girl telling a story about Noah being her first kiss. She could tell the girl was crying despite the small laughs that slipped out. Adele tried to do the math. This girl was probably only 18, maybe 19. Noah would have been turning 25 this year. So in order for Noah to have been this girl's first kiss she would have had to of been 10 or younger when Noah was alive. No, she must have heard wrong. This girl clearly didn’t know Noah. She must have confused her Noah Czerny with another Noah Czerny, but then the girl reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of skateboard stickers. She laid them out so each could be seen against the tombstone. There was a Blink-182 sticker, a sticker that said NOAH FENCE (which was Noah’s favorite and worst joke), and a glittery one in the shape of a band aid. All the stickers screamed NOAH. The girl wiped her eyes and said her goodbyes and was off.

This day was not going how Adele had planned. She hadn’t expected anyone to be at Noah’s grave. She thought she would have had the gravesite to herself. But somehow she didn’t mind seeing this outpouring of love towards her brother, even if she didn’t know how they had known him. 

Again she looked back to the grave to see another young man walking towards it. This boy looked like he was made from money. His hair was perfectly styled and he was wearing an obnoxiously colored polo shirt, a pair of perfectly pressed chinos, and the ugliest boat shoes she had ever seen. He was carrying a small box with him. He stopped in front of Noah’s grave and shook his head smiling. He talked louder than the others had so she could clearly hear what he was saying.

He started with a watery laugh, “Noah, man. It’s been almost 6 months since you left us. I cannot believe it’s already been that long.” He stopped and tried to hold back a sob. He knelt and laid the box on the grave near the other gifts. “I didn’t know what to get you that would be able to express my gratitude for you trading yourself for my life. Twice.” He put his head in his hands and took several long minutes to get himself back under control. Adele felt like she was invading a very personal moment but couldn’t bring herself to look away.

“I have all the money in the world and nothing I could buy seemed to be good enough for you. So, I offer you this, knowing that it could in no way fully express my thankfulness to you. Blue wanted to come together to visit, but I wanted to do this just me and you. I hope you enjoy it.” He nudged the box like Noah would appear and pick it up. 

“We all miss you more than you could even know. Sometimes I still think I hear you roaming around still. We’ve moved out of Monmouth, but I feel like you followed us to Blue and my’s new house. Ronan and Adam are still together. They make an interesting couple, but they seem like they were made for each other. I can always tell when Ronan really starts to miss you. He starts blasting the Murder Squash song and no one can tell him to turn it off because we all know why he’s playing it. I think he secretly hopes you will pop in and start singing it with him. If I’m being honest, sometimes I hope it happens too.”

The man stood up and wiped his pant legs off, “Well buddy. We will all stop by together soon to catch up. Happy birthday.” And with that he left.

 

Adele sat still for a few moments. She hadn’t realized she had started silently crying until the man was gone from sight, the sound of a loud engine breaking the silence. She found herself wondering what the man had been talking about. He made it seem like Noah had recently died, what had he said? Almost 6 months. Noah had been dead for 8 years now. And Noah had been murdered, he hadn’t traded his life for this man. Adele’s head was spinning. She didn’t understand what she had just heard. And what did he mean when he said they hoped that Noah would “pop in” like he would just appear out of nowhere, like a…a…ghost?

Adele got up quickly and walked over to the grave and took in all the gifts sitting around it. All four of those kids had only been 18-19 years old. They acted like they had been very close to her brother, had even brought gifts that Noah would have loved. But there was no way. No way. Her eyes landed on the box that the last boy had left. She suddenly needed to know what was in the box. She had a feeling it would answer some of the questions that were flying through her head. She knelt down and picked up the box, which was heavier than she had expected and opened it.

Inside was a leather scrapbook. She carefully lifted it out of the box. It looked well loved. The leather was worn from where someone had handled it often. On front the front was the words “The Gangsey”. Adele didn’t understand what that meant, but she opened the book to the first page and let out a sob. Staring back at her was a picture of her brother. It looked to have been copied from an Aglionby yearbook. Below the photo read “Noah, you were always enough” and what looked like to be a signature that read Gansey. 

Adele quickly flipped through the other pages. The book was filled with pictures of the four people she had seen today at Noah’s grave. In some of the pictures there looked to be a slight smudgy, glow in an awkwardly left space. In a few of the pictures she swears she could see the outline of a person standing there. At the end of the scrapbook there were several handwritten notes, like the man expected Noah to actually be able to read them. 

This was all too much. Theories were starting to lodge themselves in her brain. But they were crazy right? These people seemed to have known Noah. There was no denying it. They hadn’t all just happened to show up at the wrong grave, on Noah’s birthday with gifts that screamed Noah. The only explanation was that they had known Noah, and from the sound and look of it recently. Adele wrote down the names she had heard the man, Gansey?, saying earlier. She would have to find a way to contact these people to find out their connection to her brother. But first, she needed to do what she came here for.

She walked back to the bench where she had left the 8 gifts she had brought for Noah. Each gift had been bought for Noah’s birthday the past 8 years. She laid out all the gifts among the others already scattered about. She knelt down and started talking to her brother.

When she was finished talking and had finally stopped crying, Adele stood. She looked down at her brother’s grave and told him Happy Birthday again and that she loved and missed him. She turned to go, but felt a solid grip at her elbow accompanied by a chill run. She turned back to the grave startled. No one was there, nothing had her by the elbow. She searched around the area, looking for something. A gentle breeze rattled a nearby tree and Adele heard, clear as day, the words “I love you sis, thank you for remembering.” in what was unmistakably Noah’s voice.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry!
> 
> Also, am terrible at titles so...sorry if it sucks.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Come talk to me on Tumblr @itmakesyoulooklikealoser


End file.
